Harvey, who started Burning Man on a San Francisco beach in 1986, suffered the stroke on Wednesday. His prognosis is unknown, according to a statement today on the Burning Man Journal.

"Larry is receiving excellent round-the-clock medical care and constant companionship from his family and very close friends," the statement said.

Harvey, 70, has remained heavily involved in Burning Man, a 68,000-person arts celebration held in the Black Rock Desert, about two hours north of Reno.

He is responsible for the creation of the annual theme and naming the streets in Black Rock City. He also contributes to the design of the event's central effigy, burned on the penultimate night of the weeklong event each year.

"While this is a challenging time, we are encouraged by our community’s ability to come together when it matters most," the statement said. "Some have asked how this may affect our organization and our operations going forward. Rest assured, Burning Man and Black Rock City 2018 will go on. If there’s one thing we know for sure, Larry wants us to burn the Man."

Harvey has previously said he wrote down the event's 10 principles in a cafe in Mexico in 2004. The principles are purposed to encourage Burners to have a more fulfilling experience of the event; they include radical self-reliance, inclusion and self-expression.

Harvey, who does not know who his biological parents are but believes he was conceived in the back of a Chevy, was adopted by a pair of potato farmers who fled Nebraska during the Great Depression. They got out of there "when the stock market crashed and the earth blew away," as Harvey put it in 2016.

His adoptive parents settled on an artisanal farm just outside of Portland, Ore., in an area heavily populated by Japanese and Italian immigrants.

“They had to band together with other people to stay alive – that sounds like Burning Man because it was like Burning Man,” Harvey said of his parents.

Burning Man founder Larry Harvey is pictured in 1990 at one of the Baker Beach burns.(Photo: Photo by Stewart Harvey, Courtesy of Burning Man)

Harvey has credited his practical parents — a carpenter with a fourth-grade education born in 1899 and a homemaker — with teaching him the values that would later become the 10 Principles for Burning Man. He also credits them with creating a void that Burning Man helped to fill.

"I observed all their practicalities and their values, but I had this visionary side where I could see things that no one else could see," Harvey has said of his relationship with his family.

When he was young, he remembered asking his father if they could dig an eight-foot deep maze together in one of the fields. He thought it would be a great way to get all of the neighbors to talk to one other and interact since they didn't usually, mostly given the language barriers. His father scoffed, believing that anyone who talked a mile a minute with all these pipe dreams like little Larry was "running their mouth," Harvey said.

By the time Larry was a teenager, however, he had a plan. At 17, he hitchhiked to San Francisco after a brief stint in the service, barely missing the "summer of love," but still arriving in time to experience the freewheeling, organic atmosphere of the Bay Area. He moved into a flat in the Haight-Ashbury district, and he has lived within four blocks of it ever since.

He's told several versions of why he thought to build a man and burn it on a beach in 1986, including once when he told a reporter jokingly that the figure represented an ex-girlfriend. It didn't, but the prank still lingers as false legend.

In recent years, critics have lambasted Harvey for making Burning Man into a money-making scheme, and also for making the event into a massive, organized event. Others consider the long-winded, philosophy-loving leader somewhat of a guru.

According to Burning Man's most recent tax documents released last year, Harvey made $198,000 from the Burning Man organization in reportable compensation, and another $25,000 in other compensation.

He notoriously had a fallout with Burning Man co-founder John Law, the only other founder who had been alongside Harvey since Burning Man's inception in 1986. Burning Man is led, however, not only by Harvey but co-founders who have joined the ranks along the way including Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell and co-founders Will Roger, Crimson Rose, Michael Mikel and Harley Dubois.

Burning Man has a full-time, year-round staff based at the organization's headquarters in the Mission District of San Francisco.

The full statement released Monday by the Burning Man organization is below:

This is a difficult announcement to make. Our founder and friend Larry Harvey is currently hospitalized after suffering a massive stroke on Wednesday, April 4. Larry remains in critical condition. While his prognosis is unknown at this time, Larry is receiving excellent round-the-clock medical care and constant companionship from his family and very close friends.

We know this news may be startling and saddening for many of you, as it has been for us. Please send your positive thoughts and intentions to Larry and his family. If you feel moved to share well wishes, notes of gratitude, or your best and craziest Larry Harvey stories, feel free to do so respectfully in the comments below. For those who would to like to send messages directly to Larry and his family or share reflections more privately, please email TheHat@burningman.org.

While this is a challenging time, we are encouraged by our community’s ability to come together when it matters most. Some have asked how this may affect our organization and our operations going forward. Rest assured, Burning Man and Black Rock City 2018 will go on. If there’s one thing we know for sure, Larry wants us to burn the Man.

We look forward to sharing more information when it becomes available. In the meantime, we ask for patience and support as we navigate the effects this has on all of us.

Thank you for sharing your love with each other, and your love of Burning Man with the world.

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Burning Man co-founder Crimson Rose smiles as she talks to a volunteer prior to the Temple burn on Sunday night. Rose and 600 other people volunteered to help guard the Temple burn after a man ran into the Man effigy burn on Saturday night and died Sunday morning. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

Mike Orwell, 31, of Chicago, calls out to passing drivers as cars, trucks and RVs slowly drive out of Burning Man on Sept. 3. Orwell, who works for the Department of Public Works at Burning Man, was asking drivers to donate unwanted food, booze and cigarettes to Burning Man workers who are remaining behind for the next month to remove all traces of the city from the desert. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

Flames tower into the sky at Burning Man on Sept. 1 as participants watch the burning of a piece of art. Many pieces, which are built of wood, will be burned over the next several days. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

The setting sun makes the dusty air seem to glow over Burning Man on Sept. 1. Burning Man is popular with photographers because it has such beautiful morning and evening light. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

A Burning Man participant who would give her name only as 'Too Cute,' 42, eats a piece of sushi made for her by a stranger on Sept. 1. "Gifting" - the giving of food and other items without expectation of repayment, is a major tenet of Burning Man. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

McKenzie Genin, 26, a former mechanical engineer and cloud-computing expert who quit her job to travel full time, practices yoga outside the Burning Man Temple. The theme of this year's Burning Man event is "Radical Ritual." Genin now is a yoga teacher, raft guide and rock climber who leads corporate mindfulness retreats. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

Patrick Scolnick, 34, and Bethany Rees, 31, both of Philadelphia, carry ice back to their camp after buying it at one of Burning Man's Arctica ice stores on Friday. Burning Man sells bags of ice for $4 each to help participants keep their food cold and reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

Conductor Brad Hogarth, 30, an assistant professor of conducting at San Francisco State University, guides an orchestra as it performs a selection from Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" during a performance at Burning Man on Wednesday evening. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

Erika Swindle, 27, of South Lake Tahoe, swallows fire during a show at Burning Man on Tuesday night. Fire camps, known as "conclaves" play an important role in Burning Man ceremonies throughout the week.
Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

Charles Cohen, 34, of Santa Monica, raises his arms in triumph Sunday after climbing a shaky rope ladder to the top of Phoenixcopterus Rex, a 40-foot-tall
sculpture installed at Burning Man. The flamingo is twice the size of a tyrannosaurus rex. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

A pair of women walk across the desert toward an "art car" at Burning Man on Sunday. The car, decorated like a lion, serves as a mobile dance floor for revelers, slowly cruising the desert, music pumping. Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY